Zoo to reopen for visitors from Aug 1

The Delhi zoo is set to reopen for visitors from August 1, more than two months after it was shut due to a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases during the second wave of the pandemic.

Delhi zoo director Ramesh Kumar Pandey said that the zoo will operate in two shifts. “We are planning to open the National Zoological Park (Delhi zoo) from August 1. Preparations are on. It will be opened in two shifts like earlier. Online booking will open from July 31, a day ahead of its opening,” said Pandey.

Zoo officials said the two

NEW DELHI:

shifts will be from 8am to 12pm and from 1pm to 5pm.

“Visitors can buy the tickets either through the zoo’s website or at the entry gates using QR codes. This time we will allow 1,500 visitors in each shift. In total 3,000 visitors are allowed inside the premises during the day,” said a senior official.

The Delhi zoo was shut for visitors on March 18 last year, a week before the nationwide lockdown that lasted 68 days was imposed. Later, after an avian flu scare in January this year, the zoo finally reopened on April 1, only to be closed again on April 15, as the second wave of the pandemic struck.

During the brief period it was opened in April, the zoo had allowed only 2,000 visitors -- 1,000 in each shift -- in the premises.

Pandey further said that the zoo recorded only 124 animal deaths -- the lowest in the last three years -- when it remained closed for public in 2020-21. The zoo recorded 172 animal deaths in 2019-20 and 188 deaths in 2018-19. Zoo officials said that the deaths depend on many factors, such as the age of animals, senility and heterogeneity, among others.

“Besides, we have now introduced cycles for staff to move around the premises and have asked them not to use twowheelers or cars. This to keep a healthy environment for the animals in the zoo,” he said.

He added that the zoo currently has 1,162 animals from 94 species. “Soon we will be increasing the number of species to 100, as part of various pending exchange programmes,” he said.

OFFICIALS SAID THE ZOO WILL OPERATE IN TWO SHIFTS - FROM 8AM TO 12PM AND FROM 1PM TO 5PM - AND WILL ALLOW ENTRY TO 3,000 VISITORS IN A DAY